Pedigree fun facts: 2021 Champagne Stakes

Wit is from the first crop of Practical Joke, hero of the 2016 Champagne. Commandperformance is by Union Rags, victorious in the 2011 edition.

The most recent father-and-son tandem to win the Champagne was Polish Navy (1986) and Sea Hero (1992). Sea Hero went on to land the 1993 Kentucky Derby (G1). 

Practical Joke is by leading sire Into Mischief, who himself has a contender on Saturday in My Prankster. Into Mischief would join an exclusive club of stallions responsible for two Champagne winners.

Interestingly, My Prankster is bred on a cross similar to Practical Joke. While Practical Joke is out of a mare by Distorted Humor, My Prankster’s dam is by the Distorted Humor stallion Flower Alley. My Prankster is out My Wandy’s Girl, a Puerto Rican champion who became a Grade 2 winner on the U.S. mainland. (And going back a bit further, Distorted Humor is by 1987 Champagne hero Forty Niner.)

Longshot Kavod is a paternal grandson of the 2005 Champagne victor, First Samurai. Himself by the “Iron Horse” Giant’s Causeway, First Samurai is responsible for Kavod’s sire, the versatile Lea. Kavod’s dam, Weekend Connection, is inbred to 1976 Champagne romper and 1977 Triple Crown champion Seattle Slew. Weekend Connection also sports a duplication of the influential broodmare Lassie Dear, a daughter of 1965 Champagne star Buckpasser.

Gunite, by top freshman sire Gun Runner, is inbred to Giant’s Causeway. Gun Runner is out of a Giant’s Causeway mare, and Gunite’s dam is by Giant’s Causeway’s son Cowboy Cal.

Jack Christopher is by Munnings, runner-up in the 2008 Champagne, and out of a half-sister to sprint star Street Boss. Storm Cat appears twice in the middle of Jack Christopher’s ancestry. Both of his grandsires – Speightstown on his sire’s side and Half Ours on his dam’s side – were produced by Storm Cat mares.

Thus the late, great patriarch Storm Cat is prominent in most of the Champagne pedigrees, as the sire of Giant’s Causeway, male-line ancestor of Into Mischief, and influential broodmare sire.